


A Glimpse of Dry Land

by katikat



Category: HIStory3 - 圈套 | HIStory3: Trap
Genre: Comfort, M/M, Post-Finale, Prison
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-15
Updated: 2019-06-15
Packaged: 2020-05-12 08:24:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19225375
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katikat/pseuds/katikat
Summary: When months become a year, he starts feeling as if he’s choking, as if the walls are closing in on him. (Unbeta'd)





	A Glimpse of Dry Land

He handles prison life pretty well, considering. It’s the same routine, day after day, week after week, month after month.  _Despite_ of and  _because_ of who he is, nobody dares to even look at him the wrong way. Not his fellow prisoners - he  _is_ the leader of Xin Tiang Meng, after all - and not the prison guards - he  _is_ a cop’s lover, after all.

Still.

When months become a year, he starts feeling as if he’s choking, as if the walls are closing in on him. Every day passed means one more day off his sentence, one day closer to getting out, he knows that,  _rationally_. Yet he can’t shake off the feeling of being trapped and he gains a better understanding of animals willing to chew off their own leg just to escape, to get out, out,  _out_!

Shao Fei senses that something’s wrong, of course. He sees it in Shao Fei’s eyes, he reads it in his worried expression, in his soft, hesitant voice. He clings to Shao Fei’s visits, regular like a clockwork, like an exhausted swimmer to the glimpse of dry land on the horizon. They serve as a reminder that he  _has_ someone waiting for him out there, unlike so many other men in here…

But Shao Fei knows, somehow he knows. He always seems to know.

* * *

“Tang Yi…” Shao Fei starts hesitantly the next time he visits, staring at Tang Yi through the smudged plexi glass, a much used phone receiver in his hand.

Tang Yi, sitting on the other side of the partition wall, his own phone receiver pressed against his ear, doesn’t say anything, he just drinks in the sight of his lover. Damn, he misses Shao Fei  _so much_. Shao Fei’s arms around him, Shao Fei’s pointy chin hooked over his shoulder, Shao Fei’s body wrapped around his among rumpled sheets…

Shao Fei drops his eyes and clears his throat, then he tries again. “Tang Yi… I-I actually wanted to wait and do this once you’re out of here but–”

Tang Yi freezes, his mind screeching to a halt. The rational part of him tells him not to jump to conclusions, not to think the worst, not to– This  _is_ Shao Fei and there’s nobody more loyal, more loving than him. This isn’t how it sounds, this isn’t a goodbye.

“Will you marry me?” Shao Fei blurts out suddenly, leaning forward with wide eyes, anxious and nervous and  _apprehensive_.

Seconds tick by and Tang Yi can only sit there and stare at his lover. Just a moment ago, his brain was filled with worst case scenarios, with his fears of abandonment, and now… He can’t seem to process what just happened. 

What did Shao Fei say? What did he ask?  _What…?_

When Tang Yi’s silence remains unbroken, Shao Fei frowns and pouts a little, then he snaps at Tang Yi in that half-challenging, half-affronted way of his, “ _Well?_  Will you give me an answer or not?”

Warmth blooms in Tang Yi’s chest, loosening that knot that kept getting tighter and tighter wound over the last few weeks. He smiles a little and replies with a simple, “Yes.”

Now Shao Fei’s frown turns puzzled. “Yes as in ‘yes, I’ll marry you?’ Or yes as in ‘yes, I’ll give you an answer?’” he asks, confused.

Tang Yi’s smile turns wider. “ _Yes_.”

Pouting even harder, Shao Fei whines, “ _Tang Yi!_ ”

It makes Tang Yi’s heart grow lighter, teasing Shao Fei, but enough is enough. He leans forward, propping his elbows on the desk, and gives his lover an answer, a proper one. “Yes, Officer Meng, I  _will_ marry you.”

The grin that blossoms on Shao Fei’s face is a thing to behold for Tang Yi and the fact that he can do this, make this very special man smile like that, fills Tang Yi with incredible strength. It’s intoxicating.

Shao Fei reaches out and presses his hand against the smudged plexi glass. Tang Yi mirrors him and he imagines he can feel his lover’s warmth through the barrier separating them. It’s the next best thing to a real touch.

“I’ll be waiting with the ring right outside the gate when they let you out,” Shao Fei says and his voice is full of love and devotion and happiness, and Tang Yi could kick himself that the thought that Shao Fei could ever be anything else but his loyal and loving self ever crossed his mind.

Then, turning serious, Shao Fei says, earnestly and imploringly, “I promise you, it won’t be long now. Your probation hearing is coming up soon and I swear I’ll get everyone I can to put in a good word for you. I  _swear_ I’ll do all I can to get you out as soon as possible. So just… hold on a little bit longer, okay? Just a little bit more.”

And Tang Yi has to blink hard to push back tears because he was right and Shao Fei knew. He knew how Tang Yi felt and he knew exactly what to do about it, he knew what to say to make it better, like always.

So Tang Yi nods firmly and swallowing hard against the lump in his throat, he whispers, “I will.”


End file.
